CONSTITUTION, the organic law, written or unwritten, of a body politic, though the word is used popularly with great vagueness. The natives of Eng land speak with pride of the British "constitution." Each of the United States of America has a "constitution," while the Federal "constitution" holds them all together. During the demo cratic uprising in Continental Europe in 1848, the people in each country de manded that their despotic sovereigns should grant them a "constitution." In all these cases the constitution is an or ganization of the great body politic with regard to such fundamental matters as legislative, executive, and judicial power and authority. In the uprisings in 1848, the constitution sought was an instru ment having the force of solemn com pact, by which the despot, who had hith erto ruled alone, or nearly alone, gave a substantial share of his power to his subjects, so as to render them in a man ner self-governed. In the United States, whether the State in point was founded before or after the War of Independence, it was an engagement between the dif ferent portions of society as to the political powers which they should re spectively exercise. In the British con stitution it is the complex political or ganization which has grown up during the many centuries that the British peo ple have existed, and which consequently has a stability and an adaptation to all classes.
One reason of the successful working of the American and the British con stitutions has been their mixed char acter. No class of men are morally capable of wielding supreme power with ont abusing it. A Nero, a Caligula, a Ti berius, and a multitude of other emper ors, show what uncontrolled royal power can do. By the State and National Con stitutions of the United States the legis lative power is vested in the National and State legislatures; the executive power in the President and governors, both of whom are elected and removed at frequent intervals. The judiciary inter pret the law, and are in turn restrained by written statutes and prescription. The rights of the people are guarded by the habeas corpus act, and by the further constitutional guarantees of both the State and National charters. The jury trial stands as a bar to malicious per secution. Should an exigency arise necessitating a change in the Constitu tion of the State or of the nation, the change must be submitted to the people and ratified by them.
The Constitution of the United States as it now stands consists of 7 original articles and 19 articles of amendment, the last two being those providing for the prohibition of intoxicating liquors and for woman suffrage. It was origi
nally framed by the representatives of the people, who met at Philadelphia, and finally adopted it on Sept. 17, 1787. It became a law of the land on the first Wednesday of March, 1789. In the Brit ish constitution legislative power is placed in the hands of the king, lords, and the commons; the executive power is nominally in the hands of the sovereign, but really in those of responsible minis ters. The judicial authority is vested in judges, not removable except for very serious fault; while the jury system affords a guarantee that no one can be pronounced guilty unless 12 of his peers see their way to convicting him of the offense. Nor can one be imprisoned for an indefinite period without being brought to trial; for a writ of habeas corpus may be applied for, which re quires the individual to be produced for trial within a certain time, or released. These fundamental arrangements are not like the changeless laws of nature. A constitution made directly or indi rectly by men may be altered by men, i and, in exceptional circumstances, when parts of the constitution are systemati cally abused to the detriment of society, society, speaking by its mouthpiece, the Legislature, can meet the crisis by en acting that they shall be temporarily suspended or permanently repealed.
Apostolic Constitutions are ordinances for the discipline of the Church, partic ularly the apostolic constitutions and a collection of regulations attributed to the Apostles, and supposed to have been col lected by St. Clement, whose name they bear. Their authenticity has been greatly questioned.
In Scots Law, a decree of constitution is a decree by which the extent of a debt or obligation is ascertained. The term is generally applied to those decrees which are requisite to found a title in the person of the creditor in the event of the death of the debtor of the original creditor.
The Constitutions of Clarendon are constitutions, in the sense of laws or regulations, made at a Council held at Clarendon, near Salisbury, on Jan. 25, 1164. They were designed to define the boundary-line between civil and ecclesi astical jurisdiction, and did so in a sense favorable to the civil power. On this account Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, refused to sign them, and excommunicated many of the ecclesias tics who had done so. This led to the feud between him and the civil ,c•overn meat, which ultimately caused his as sassination on Dec. 29, 1170.